Sweet treats are a perfect gift for friends, teachers and neighbors. I love making holiday cookies. And I also love hot chocolate, so I decided to combine the two for some Christmas cookies this year. I like the sandwich cookie because it makes a normal cookie a little bit more exciting. 

These cookies are so good! I can’t wait to try other types of frosting inside the hot chocolate sugar cookie-like a peanut butter mousse frosting or maybe marshmallow… 🙂

H O T   C H O C O L A T E   P E P P E R M I N T   C O O K I E   S A N D W I C H E S

Hot Chocolate Sugar Cookies:
Recipe adapted from Food Network
Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup hot chocolate mix
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, cut in to small pieces, at room temp
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract

Beat sugar in mixing bowl until finely ground. Add the flour, hot chocolate powder, salt and baking powder. Beat until just combined. Add butter, mix until incorporated and it has a sandy texture. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until mixture turns in to large clumps. 

Form a ball with the dough, divide dough in half. Roll each half in to a log and roll up in to a piece of parchment paper and tightly twist the ends. Freeze until firm, about 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Cut cookie log into 1/4 inch thick slices. Bake until cookies loose their sheen, about 12 minutes. Let cookies cool.

Peppermint Frosting:
Ingredients:
1 cup butter at room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp peppermint extract
crushed peppermint candies
pinch of salt

Beat butter in mixing bowl on low speed until smooth and creamy about 3 minutes, gradually add powdered sugar, vanilla, peppermint extract and salt until combined. Mix in crushed peppermint candies. 

When cookies have cooled, make cookie sandwiches by taking two cookies and placing frosting in between them. When you have your sandwich cookies, dip them in melted semi sweet chocolate (I just melted some semi sweet chocolate chips in a double boiler). Before the chocolate has a chance to harden and cool, sprinkle crushed peppermint candies on top.